“I remember when we bought a microwave oven. It was the coolest thing ever. We never had one in Cuba. Popcorn became the ‘it’ thing. Hot dogs, eggs. The microwave was amazing.”

But Yonder’s introduction to the United States was stressful.

None of the Alonsos spoke English when they arrived in the United States.

Days after arriving from Cuba, Yonder was thrust into a third grade class in a Miami, Fla., elementary school.

“I had no clue what a dime was,” remembers Alonso. “When someone said water, I didn’t know what they were talking about. Yellow and Jell-O, I didn’t know the difference or what it meant.”

Even in a community that operated in both Spanish and English, Alonso felt lost.

“I forced myself to learn English,” he explained recently. “I was tired of getting Ds and Fs and having kids laugh when I didn’t understand. For some reason, it clicked with me early. If I was going to succeed, I had to learn English.”

Yonder Alonso did more than learn English. He mastered it.

“I would go to school during the day and work with him father cleaning offices at night,” he recalled. “I did that almost from when I arrived until I was in college (at the University of Miami).

“I would be cleaning offices and practicing English, cleaning offices and doing math problems in my head. Spanish was always spoken in my home, but English became a must.

“Everything was easier if you knew English. Baseball helped me with my English and I became better at baseball because I knew the language being used in the game.”

Alonso quickly learned that baseball as well as English was his ticket. And one day, he hopes baseball could be a ticket to re-connect with Cuba.

“I love the United States,” he said. “But I will always have strong ties to Cuba. People don’t realize I can’t go back. Someday, I hope that changes. The third World Baseball Classic is next year. I’d love it if they said players here can play for Cuba.”